LLM Agent Evaluation & Evolution Researcher

ByteDance; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

ByteDance's Applied Machine Learning Ark team in San Jose is seeking researchers and engineers specializing in Large Language Models and AI agents. You will work on end-to-end MaaS platforms, spanning model serving, tool usage, and evaluation pipelines.

Successful candidates will contribute to design, development, and operation across US and international markets, with emphasis on production-ready research and data-driven improvements.

Qualifications

• PhD in CS/AI/ML/Data Science or related field, completed or near completion.
• Strong foundation in ML and deep learning with practical ML exposure.
• Experience with LLM-based systems, agents, tool use and retrieval.
• Proven research track record through publications or projects.

Responsibilities

• Design evaluation systems for LLM-based agents, covering task success, tool use, reasoning quality, and reliability.
• Build benchmarks and automated judging pipelines, combining rule-based checks, model-based judging, and human review, etc.
• Analyze agent execution traces and user feedback to identify failure patterns and turn them into concrete system improvements.
• Support the closed loop from experience to capability, and work with research, platform, and product teams to bring methods into production.

Skills

ML fundamentals

DL fundamentals

LLM-based systems

Python programming

Research publications

Evaluation frameworks

Multi-agent systems

Education

PhD in Computer Science / AI / ML / Data Science

Job description

Agent Evaluation & Evolution Researcher Graduate (AML-Ark-US) - 2027 Start (PhD)

Location:

San Jose

Team:

Technology

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Code:

A138602B

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Responsibilities

The Applied Machine Learning Ark team combines system engineering and machine learning to develop and operate Large Language Model (LLM) service platforms that offer businesses Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions, serving both large model providers and downstream users. The US team drives the design, development, and operation of MaaS solutions across the US and international markets outside mainland China. We are building full-stack, end-to-end solutions spanning text and multimodal LLM algorithms, LLM training/fine-tuning/inference frameworks, prompt engineering, model alignment, and intelligent agent systems. Beyond model serving, we operate large-scale log analytics pipelines that process massive volumes of invocation logs from text models, multimodal models, and agent systems — extracting usage patterns, quality signals, and actionable insights to inform model improvement, system optimization, and product decisions through continuous, data-driven feedback loops. We are actively seeking talented engineers and researchers specializing in Large Language Models and AI Agent systems to join our dynamic team.We are looking for talented individuals to join our team. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth.Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by the end of the year. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume.Responsibilities:- Design evaluation systems for LLM-based agents, covering task success, tool use, reasoning quality, and reliability.- Build benchmarks and automated judging pipelines, combining rule-based checks, model-based judging, and human review, etc.- Analyze agent execution traces and user feedback to identify failure patterns and turn them into concrete system improvements.- Support the closed loop from experience to capability, and work with research, platform, and product teams to bring methods into production.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:- Individuals who are completing or have recently completed a PhD's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field.- Solid foundation in machine learning and deep learning.- Hands-on experience with LLM-based systems (e.g., agents, tool calling, retrieval, multi-agent systems) through research, internships, or projects.- Strong Python skills and experience with a mainstream ML or agent evaluation framework.- Demonstrated research or engineering ability through publications, substantial projects, internships, or open-source work.Preferred Qualifications:- Publications at top-tier ML/NLP venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL etc.), especially in agent learning, self-improving/self-evolving/RSI, or agent evaluation.- Experience with evaluation methodology: metric design, model-based judging, or annotation and statistical analysis, etc.- Familiarity with LLM post-training, reasoning and planning methods, or continual learning.- Experience with feedback-driven optimization loops, or with large-scale log and trace analysis.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $162000 - $316800 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and

3. Exercising sound judgment.

About Us

Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. With a suite of more than a dozen products, including TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico as well as platforms specific to the China market, including Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua, ByteDance has made it easier and more fun for people to connect with, consume, and create content.

Why Join ByteDance

Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life - a mission we work towards every day.

As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

Reasonable Accommodation

ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request